A week long London FreeSchool event will be taking place between the 1st and 7th of September at Bowl Court Social Centre with workshops, discussions and skill-sharing. Themes will include Food, Creative Arts, Permaculture, Gender, Science and Languages. The event will be completely free and open to all people willing to respect the ideals of the free school and each other.

London FreeSchool aims to confront the hierarchy and inequality which dominates learning. It stems from a belief that the control and institutionalisation of education is wrong and as communities we need to reclaim knowledge in order to develop self reliance. The free in free school refers to the freedom of learning as well as learning outside of the monetary system. It directly challenges the elitism of the expert and ‘doctor knows best’ attitude understanding that we are all equal and can learn from one another.

In order to make this event a success we need help! If you are able to facilitate a workshop, discussion or skill-share then please drop us a line detailing what exactly you would like to do, how long it would take (e.g. one hour session or 3 sessions on different days), if there are any specific tools, equipment or materials needed and your availability between the 1st and 7th September.

Bowl Court is a non-commercial squatted space run as a collectively managed grassroots activism project to enable some independence from a system predominated by commodity and capital. Together we aim to facilitate DIY culture and horizontal organising for individuals, campaign groups and artists working on social justice and environmental issues.

This is a participatory project moving towards bringing about radical social change and creating positive alternatives while seeking to address issues of ecological sustainability in temporary urban spaces (such as squats).

Some of the ways these goals may be realised is through such projects as ; giveaway store, film festivals, art exhibitions, benefit concerts, permaculture, political discussions, public meetings, cafe and free school – either organised by us, or by you.

We meet as an open collective every monday evening from 7pm to discuss use of the space and hear proposals.

Email us at bowlcourt(@)riseup.net or phone 0208 8192596

You can find us off Plough Yard (near the Drunken Monkey) at the junction of Shoreditch Hight St and Great Eastern Street (http://tinyurl.com/4xeq2q). The closest tube Liverpool Street.

The building is a victorian warehouse set in a cobbled street but in the shadow of construction site and vast class and steel skyscrapers. The project is already under threat of eviction despite the owners have no immediate plans for use of the building and ultimately want to knock it down.

If you would like to receive SMS alerts about London’s autonomous spaces text ‘follow londonscn’ to 07624801423 then reply with a name as instructed.

Over the last three weeks people have been preparing an abandoned warehouse in Shoreditch to host events over the weekend of the days of action for squats and autonomous spaces. This week, artists have been transforming the place for an exhibition themed around land use, gentrification, housing and reclaiming space. The building opens on Saturday at 10am with a program of films, discussion and skill sharing till 7pm and again on Sunday. The space will also be hosting a freeshop and squatters estate agency.

The squatted warehouse

Art work in the ally

Our towering neighbours

View of diggers outside the window

The new stairs were a great help

Plenty of people come and go

Map aids London Squatter

Checking out the properties available in the squatters estate agency

Some of the artwork on the 1st floor

Free shop – fridge, kitchen sink and all

The four storey building had been deliberately left empty for years even though the planning authorities won’t allow it to be demolished. Instead of using using/renting or selling the building, the owners have instead totally gutted the inside to deter squatters, stairs removed, floorboards pulled up, pipework yanked out and toilets smashed. As if that wasn’t bad enough they have left the building open to the elements with smashed windows and a bloody great hole torn out of the roof. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the developers are waiting for the building to fall into disrepair enough to justify its demolition.

Despite all the damage it was considered worth squatting anyway, partly due to the symbolic value of occupying and renovating a building that the owners are leaving empty while they wait for it to fall apart, but also because it has most of the attributes we wanted and is very conveniently located.

Right on the edge of the city of London, the squat is overshadowed by a massive new 700 million pound development site pushing out into Shoreditch. A huge glistening glass tower block is the first of many that will be built here, transforming the area completely. The warehouse stands alone with earth movers parked in the open area between it and the construction trains and tower blocks, an almost exact real life replica of the image used on the April2008 website.

The squat is located in Bowl Court which is up Plough Court next to the junction of Great Eastern Street and Shoreditch High Street.